Parliamentary Speeches
708 speeches by Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe — Page 5 of 15
Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, it is mind-boggling. Everyone warned them. We knew that the Liberals were not good at managing the borders, so the Bloc Québécois warned them before the U.S. election that migration at the border would go up if Donald Trump won. Quebec warned them. Immigration lawyers warned them. Community organizations warned them. We warned them. Despite all those warnings, the union tells us that …
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Mr. Speaker, we told the government so. Today, the Journal de Montréal reported a surge in the number of asylum seekers at the borders. The Lacolle border crossing received more than 80 between Saturday and Sunday, four times the recent average. In the words of a vice-president from the Customs and Immigration Union, they do not have enough employees to receive that many people. This confirms two …
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Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is doubling down on his plan to deport millions of people. Yesterday, he floated the idea of declaring a national state of emergency to free up the necessary resources. Once again, we have every reason to fear a wave of migrants heading for our borders. Once again, we get the impression that criminal smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government at the b…
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Mr. Speaker, that is interesting. While we are wondering whether the federal government has sufficient resources at the border to deal with immigration, while we are wondering whether human smuggling networks are one step ahead of the federal government, yesterday, the Liberals announced that hours of service are being reduced at 35 border crossings, including 10 in Quebec. The federal government …
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, this morning, The Globe and Mail reported that Irwin Cotler, the former attorney general of Canada, was the target of an assassination plot by the Iranian regime. For over a month, Mr. Cotler has been living under police protection because an authoritarian regime wants him dead. Mr. Cotler, a human rights activist and staunch opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, had provoked the wrat…
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is incapable of acknowledging that he is to blame for the crises surrounding the all-too-rapid hike in immigration numbers. Even in yesterday's mea culpa, he was still looking for someone else to blame, be it the pandemic, businesses or schools. He, however, is the one who issued every permit. He is the one who accepted McKinsey's immigration targets despite our war…
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Mr. Speaker, it is not as though no one told him to be careful with the immigration targets. His own officials warned him in 2022 that these immigration targets would aggravate the housing crisis and access to public services. The Bloc Québécois had been warning him for years that adopting the Century Initiative targets was totally irresponsible. Quebec has been warning him for two years that our …
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That is confusing, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister not only could have acted faster on immigration, he should have acted faster. First of all, he should have thought about integration capacity before drastically increasing the population as he did. Second, he should have listened to everyone warning him that it was not working, but he was too blinded by his multiculturalist fantasy to base his imm…
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Mr. Speaker, there have been discussions among the parties and, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion: That the House: (a) salute Mr. Irwin Cotler's contribution to the defence of human rights and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism; (b) recall his political contribution as Attorney General and Minister of Justice from 2003 to 2006, and that it c…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals claim they are prepared for a potential surge of migrants in response to Donald Trump's threats of deportation. However, being prepared means keeping an eye on the borders. Under the safe third country agreement, anyone who crosses the border secretly can apply for asylum in Canada after 14 days. Since the closure of Roxham Road, the vast majority of the RCMP officers hav…
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Mr. Speaker, if he does not want to answer questions, he does not have to attend question period. The last time Donald Trump threatened to deport people, many headed for Canada. That led to the problems at Roxham Road, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Roxham Road became a problem because the federal government did not have a plan. The Prime Minister literally extended an invit…
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec continues to take in more than its fair share of asylum seekers, yet there is still no plan to distribute the numbers more equally among the provinces. This is a serious matter, especially as migration could skyrocket again with tomorrow's U.S. election. Donald Trump has announced that, if he wins, he will launch the biggest deportation program in American history. He wants to …
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Mr. Speaker, governing is all about planning ahead. At every single opportunity, the immigration department has proven itself incapable of planning ahead. We will keep asking the minister for details about his plan because without details, we have no good reason to believe that a plan exists. If Donald Trump wins tomorrow, he has promised to deport 18 million people. Our agencies tell us that they…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, this gives me the opportunity to again say that I listened to my colleague's speech. We have been here almost a month and, frankly, I think that was the best speech we have heard on this question of privilege. I was listening to him and thinking that his speech tops them all. I want to congratulate him because it was so unique. I have never heard anything like it. He presented some …
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, it is too bad, because I do not think that everyone is going to put on their earpiece and understand what I have to say today. I really want to congratulate my colleague because it has been almost—
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have finally started listening to the message passed on from Quebeckers by the Bloc Québécois. Instead of raising their immigration target to 500,000 people a year, they are going to lower it to 365,000 by 2027. If Quebec were to accept the federal government's new target, it would have to welcome more than 80,000 immigrants a year. That is more than the target set by Que…
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Mr. Speaker, the proposed new thresholds are a step in the right direction, but they still force Quebec to choose between accepting more immigrants or losing political weight within Canada. That being said, Quebec's main concern is still temporary immigration and, above all, asylum seekers. There is still no plan for distributing asylum seekers among the provinces, and Quebec is still taking on ne…
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Mr. Speaker, since we still have no migrant distribution breakdown for the provinces, we run a real risk of seeing migration skyrocket following the U.S. election in 12 days' time. Without presuming to know the outcome, we are aware that Donald Trump plans to deport 11 million people. Our agencies have told us that, if he wins, they expect a lot of people to pack their bags and head for Canada. Th…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Madam Speaker, the House has been paralyzed and we have been unable to work for nearly a month now, as my colleague from Joliette said. In the meantime, we agree with the Conservative Party that to end this paralysis, the government needs to hand over the documents. In his speech, my colleague said that we serve our constituents, that we represent them and they expect us to do our work. That spoke…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, today, October 23, a major figure in regional agriculture is stepping down from his post. After eight years serving as president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, or UPA, for the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean region, Mario Théberge, a dairy and grain farmer from Normandin who is well known at home and respected by his peers, will hand the reins over to the next generation, who are mor…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I think I will be lucky. I think this is the fifth time that I am asking a member of the Liberal Party this question. What is more, I get along fairly well with my colleague who just gave an excellent speech. We have the good fortune of being able to serve together on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Develo…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a legitimate question. The leader of the official opposition aspires to be the prime minister of Canada. Today, he is telling us that he does not want to get his security clearance or see the documents because it would prevent him from speaking publicly about the issue. Is he saying that, if he ever becomes the prime minister of Canada, he will refuse to see sensitive informat…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, we are here this evening to talk about foreign interference, and the Prime Minister provided information last week about how Conservative members, former members or candidates allegedly had something to do with India's foreign interference. That is our understanding. Now, the leader of the Conservative Party and member for Carleton is refusing to get his security clearance. I am not l…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I have asked my Liberal colleagues a question a few times. They have yet to respond. I just listened to the minister's speech. She was very passionate and emphatic. I could tell she really believed in what she was saying. Someone on the Liberal side will have to explain to me, then, why it took so long. A motion was adopted here in the House of Commons in November 2020 to establish …
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Mr. Speaker, my leader has indeed started the process and I think that he will get his security clearance shortly. There are just a few small formalities left. He did indeed decide to move forward responsibly so that he could verify whether Bloc Québécois candidates or members have been directly or indirectly, wittingly or unwittingly involved in foreign interference. I would be surprised if that …
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Mr. Speaker, I am sorry about earlier. I know that you are fair. I did not mean to criticize you. I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Montcalm. The consequences of foreign interference are quite real. They are real for security, for democracy and for the well-being of our communities. Last March, the foreign interference commission heard testimony from several representatives of var…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I think that, by having this debate this evening, we will be able to take a closer look at this issue, come up with suggestions and perhaps some solutions, and reach a consensus. This debate enables us work across party lines and to try to sit down together as responsible parliamentarians. Unfortunately, what may end up happening this evening is that the Liberals and the Conservatives…
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Mr. Speaker, the member who spoke before my hon. colleague did not answer the question I put to him. I would like to ask my question again in the hopes of getting an answer from his colleague from the Liberal Party. We are talking about taking action against foreign interference, and we are talking about government responsibility in relation to this scourge. My question is about government respons…
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Mr. Speaker, here is what is likely to happen tonight. The Conservatives are going to say that foreign interference is all the Liberals' fault. In response, the Liberals will say that it is all the Conservatives' fault. My colleague just spoke about government accountability. On November 18, 2020, the House passed a motion calling on the government to create a foreign agent registry, and that did …
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Mr. Speaker, while the government does nothing, in Quebec, we no longer have classes available for the children of asylum seekers. We no longer have teachers to assign to the classes we do not have. We are no longer able to supply food banks. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. As we speak, new people are arriving at Montreal's Trudeau airport to claim asylum. They will join the ranks of the …
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Mr. Speaker, these days we are hearing a lot of things about asylum seekers, and not very thoughtful things. It makes people lose sight of what is important. There are too many asylum seekers in Quebec for our capacity to accommodate them. We are incapable of providing services to these people, who are living in misery. There are some provinces that can help them but are refusing to do so. The onl…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, let us stick with that theme. If we travelled with the DeLorean from 1867 to today, we would see all kinds of scandals. There would be only two guilty parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. Since 1867, we have become used to it. Let us come back to October 2, 2024, because I am being magnanimous with my esteemed colleague on the Conservative side. My question is very simple. Wha…
Read full speech →Orders of the Day
Mr. Speaker, of course the Bloc Québécois supports the principle of the motion. What bothers us is the wording. The Conservative motion does actually identify a serious problem, namely the mismanagement of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. However, the motion is problematic in its current form. The first item, calling for all documents to be tabled within 14 days, is completely unrealisti…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I have a lot of respect for my colleague from the Conservative Party. We have worked together on a number of files. I simply want my colleagues to ask themselves one question. We are having an emergency debate this evening. Maybe there are people in Lebanon who are waiting to see what solution we come up with to try to get them out of the region. They fear for their children, their …
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, with whom I have the pleasure of working on a number of international human rights files. I know how sincere and committed she is when it comes to human rights. To answer her question, I hope that the government realizes just how urgent and alarming the situation is. I hope the government has listened to the speeches of all my colleagues in the House today. The q…
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Mr. Speaker, I will try to be as eloquent and relevant as my colleague from Saint-Jean. She gave a bit of a preview of what the Bloc Québécois will be talking about this evening. We really want to set aside all partisanship in tonight's debate. This is an emergency debate on how we can have an impact on peace in Lebanon and on the populations affected there. I commend my colleague on her speech. I…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Mr. Speaker, I do not think anyone wants us to engage in partisan rhetoric tonight. This is an emergency debate on how we can have an impact on peace in Lebanon, but I think the main issue is how we can repatriate Canadian citizens who are in Lebanon. Many of them are Quebeckers, since Quebec is home to a large Lebanese community. I think that is what we should be talking about today. What matters…
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Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on her question in French. I think that the current federal Liberal government has failed in recent international crises. We are having a debate tonight, and there is a chance for them to do the right thing. They should seize this opportunity, listen to the proposals from the opposition parties and get to work.
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Mr. Speaker, this is a question that I find a bit troubling because, in the same question, my colleague says that there is a group that is tired of being instrumentalized and wants to confront Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which I support wholeheartedly. These are people who have the courage to say things and who do not want to be instrumentalized. Now, this evening, we are engaged in an emergency deba…
Read full speech →Emergency Debate
Madam Speaker, I am asking my colleague the question because I do not have any answers from the government. I asked these same questions and I did not necessarily get a response. This is what I would like to ask my colleague, because I know that she is someone who makes constructive proposals. I would like to know if she has any solutions to propose to help these people who need help right now. Th…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I remember my first day in the House five years ago. I was impressed by my colleague from Winnipeg North's passion and spirit and by the decibel level he was able to reach in his speeches. Again today, he does not disappoint. From him, I have learned that it is possible to answer a specific question without turning away from it. That is what I like about my colleague. In the report …
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Madam Speaker, today my party's leader asked the Prime Minister to tell us how important Bill C‑282, on supply management, is to him. The Prime Minister told him that he promised farmers he would never undermine supply management in international agreements again. I would like my colleague to tell me the difference between the Prime Minister's promise and Bill C‑282.
Read full speech →Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the four Conservative provinces that refuse to help Quebec. These Conservatives, who have never done their part, refuse to take in a single extra person; meanwhile, Quebec is welcoming half of Canada's asylum seekers. Has anyone ever heard the federal Conservatives ask their buddies to help Quebeckers? We certainly have not. Does the minister think that the federa…
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Mr. Speaker, all that for this. For a year now, Quebec has been demanding a fair distribution of asylum seekers among the provinces. Today, the Minister of Immigration announced that this was not going to happen and that his task force is disbanding. There will be no distribution, except with the two voluntary provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba. I want to thank both these provinces …
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Mr. Speaker, together, Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba represent 5% of the Canadian population. If they do their part, Quebec will still only be relieved of 5% of the burden of welcoming asylum seekers. Neither Quebeckers nor asylum seekers will notice a difference in the availability of services. Every province must be involved. Quebeckers should not have to look after all of Canada's asyl…
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Immigration admitted on Saturday that his government had waited, and I quote, “a little too long to slow down” immigration. Quebec has been sounding the alarm for years. The Bloc Québécois has been warning him about this for years. We gave him facts and he responded with insults. Does he realize that we would not be in this mess today if he had listened to Quebec's war…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the member is mixing up some private conversations. The minister also said that it is always easy to look back and say, “We should have done this, that or the other thing”. The easy thing to do would have been to listen back then. The Quebec government warned him. The Bloc Québécois warned him. Economists at the big banks warned him. Even his own officials had warned his gover…
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Mr. Speaker, he himself blamed his own government after a week. It is a good thing that the minister is admitting that he waited too long. However, he has not even come close to making up for the mistake he admits making, because asylum seekers still have not been relocated. A record number of asylum seekers have applied for welfare because they are waiting months for their federal work permit. Th…
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Mr. Speaker, in the spring, the Liberals promised a plan to spread out asylum seekers among the provinces. It is now the fall, and there is no plan, but that is not stopping Conservatives from concocting ways to sabotage the non-plan before it even sees the light of day. Quebeckers are trapped in the middle, and their public services are overwhelmed. Some asylum seekers in Quebec are unable to get…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal-sponsored surge in temporary immigration is creating serious problems when it comes to delivering public services. Look at what is happening right now with asylum seekers. Four provinces are refusing to help Quebec by shouldering their fair share of the responsibility. I am talking about the Conservative premiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The…
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